We don’t hear very often that a student is dead set on a philosophy major in college. And yet, philosophy is a classic major at the core of a liberal arts or humanities-focused education. It is also less competitive than english, history, and economics. We absolutely love working with philosophy or philosophy-curious students.
Philosophy majors go on to build careers as teachers, writers, and, like Caroline, founders of companies. Philosophy applies to any field that benefits from the ability to think, reason, and analyze…which is literally every field.
Getting to that point can be complicated, though. Philosophy does not have a clear trajectory for students interested in the subject so some students feel trepidatious about saying they are interested in philosophy. Most high school students don’t even have access to courses in philosophy through their school. So, it’s all about the extracurriculars. This gets tricky as a junior, as you don’t have a ton of time to get things done. That said, focused philosophy students are some of our favorite students to work with. They are incredibly competitive applicants and sail smoothly into their early decision school of choice.
In this post, we’re going to break down the activities outside of your standard coursework that we encourage our students, and especially juniors, to lean into if they are looking to major in philosophy. Some of these are available through school, and others require additional legwork, as well as an investment of time and, sometimes, money. This is why it’s good to have options. You don’t need to do everything on this list, but you do need to pick what works for you and throw yourself into with complete enthusiasm.
We help our students pull off outstanding admissions outcomes. Learn how.
As a junior, you have a limited amount of time to make a big impact on your application. The key here is to be strategic and to invest time where it can truly make a difference. If something doesn’t resonate with you, don’t do it. If you are starting something for the first time, there must be room for you to gain leadership and/or an award or recognition before you submit your early applications during senior fall. With that said, let’s dig in.
QUIZ BOWL
If your school has a Quiz Bowl team and you are not already on it, join. If you will be a new member, this is still worth it. While you are very unlikely as a new member to become a club head in the next twelve months, you will have the opportunity to gain recognition and win awards in Quiz Bowl competitions — even as a new member.
If you are already part of the Quiz Bowl team, you need to be setting yourself on a trajectory for leadership next year. If this doesn’t already seem like a likelihood, schedule a time to meet with your faculty advisor, as well as with current club leadership, to talk about your goal of leadership and what they feel you could do to improve the chances of that outcome becoming a reality.
And what if your school doesn’t have a Quiz Bowl team? It’s a bit too late to start one. Building a Quiz Bowl team takes time, especially when it comes to registering for competitions and recruiting a team of specialists. Instead of scrambling to get a Quiz Bowl team going, we encourage you to put your time and effort where it may have more impact.
PHILOSOPHY CLUB
If your school has a philosophy club and you have not already joined it, do it now, and try to have a leadership position. The goal is to influence the trajectory of the club to align with your particular interest within philosophy. For some students we’ve worked with, this has been existentialism. Others have been interested in stoicism and its influence on modern day CEOs.
If your school doesn’t have a philosophy club, you need to begin working on starting one. Every school has their own system for creating a club, but typically the first step is to find a faculty advisor and then to recruit a cohort of friends and peers to be your first members. The great thing about starting a club is that you are automatically the head of the club, likely for both your junior year and your senior year. That is stellar, providing a strong leadership experience that also shows that you are someone who takes initiative. You also get to set the agenda, which is excellent because you can hone your niche within philosophy through this club.
If your school has a philosophy club and you have been a member, this leadership bit is even more important. Of course, you don’t fully control whether you get to be a club head, but like with Quiz Bowl you need to take initiative to set the wheels in motion.
ADDITIONAL COURSEWORK
As we said in the intro, most high schools don’t offer courses in philosophy. If they do, it’s usually one elective course that is a big survey course without a strong focus on a particular era. This poses a bit of a problem if you want to show colleges that you are passionate about and committed to the study of philosophy. However, there are actions that you can take to address this and ensure that your application stands out. In short, study more stuff. You need to choose a niche within philosophy.
As a junior in high school, you likely have access to local community college courses and definitely have access to online courses. Taking philosophy courses beyond what your school offers is an awesome way to underline your interest while exploring for yourself, too. Before you sign up for anything, talk with your school administration about whether they have a system for integrating community college courses, or other additional coursework, into your transcript. It’s okay if they don’t, but it’s awesome if they do.
Either way, make sure to pick courses that are accredited. You are a junior, and you don’t need some sort of watered down philosophy for kids. This additional coursework is an opportunity to strive and thrive in ways that will shine in your applications.
SUMMER PROGRAMS
We don’t typically recommend structured summer programs for juniors. For most fields, there are better ways to be emphasizing your interest than paying to study what you love when you’re so close to doing that in college, but philosophy is tricky. You can’t really get an internship in philosophy, or a part-time summer job that connects to philosophy (although major bonus points if you can find something for that second one). So, we support our students in finding summer programs that check all three of these boxes:
The program must be part of a university or college they aspire to attend.
The program must include college-level coursework taught by graduate students, adjunct professors, or professors at that university.
The program must be in-person.
You could be staying in dorms or commuting each day, but an online summer program that is not simply a college course with transferrable credit is not worth it as a junior. Remember, though, that doing a summer program at a dream school does not generally markedly improve your chances of admission. You should not be picking a program, then, with an admissions boost in mind. Rather, pick the one that resonates most deeply with your interests while also checking all three items on the list.
Research
One of the best things you can do is show a heightened level of interest in a specific field within philosophy. Our philosophy students always do research with a professor or phd candidate. They work closely with an academic who is doing high-level work within the subset of philosophy they are interested in. That said, we only advocate for our students to do research (and get published) after they’ve joined clubs, read books, taken online courses, and maybe participated in a summer program. Doing research within that front-end work doesn’t play well in admissons.
As a junior interested in philosophy, you are one of a select few. So, select, in fact, that some students will think to list their prospective major as philosophy on applications in the hopes of standing out among a pack of more overtly career-minded majors. This does not work unless you have a genuine interest in the subject and are taking the steps to show that interest well before you start writing your applications. Do the work to get the results.
The most important piece of the college application process is making it yours. Get your customized college admissions strategy.